Today we’d like to introduce you to Selena Edwards.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I can best be described as a “Woman of many talents and skills – Jill of all Trades.” Who loves to be creative! My career started off part-time then went full time in the retail industry. I later moved onto the Mortgage Banking, Bankcard Services, and Technology industries working in credit card services, hazard insurance, secondary marketing, escrow, foreclosure, transfers, and acquisitions, merchant services, customer support, attorney relations, and accounting.
While working in corporate America, I began my small business parallel to maintaining a full-time job selling women’s accessories which took off very well. Because of the fast growth, I later expanded my business into custom designing my own work. I now custom design various items such as t-shirts, caps, aprons, tablecloths, marketing promotional products (i.e. Mugs, tumblers, notebooks, dog tags), apparel embellishments and so much more. My business has expanded over the past six years taking on added services such as embroidery, screen-printing, rhinestones, and vinyl custom orders.
My customer base consists of new and repeat customers, aged from infants to 65+ with a population in various states all over the USA. I have provided products and services to realtors, event planners, schools, church organizations, individual customers by word of mouth advertisement. I have a passion for creating so this was definitely my calling!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting a business and continuing a business has definitely had its challenges. However, to alleviate challenges, I always keep a mindset of “What could potentially happen?” Having this type of mindset typically steers me in the direction of putting things and processes in place to avoid any issues down the road. It’s very important to put processes in place to cover as many scenarios as you can even if you haven’t experienced them yet.
This is what helped me in the long run. Thinking ahead can foster some positive outcomes later. Because of this, I haven’t experienced as many challenges as one would have. I would have to say that due to worldwide issues it may have caused my customer base to decrease every now and then because of the economical situations we are now faced with but all in all my business is still striving.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My business is very unique in so many ways in that I customize based on the customer’s specifications. There are no limits to what I can produce for the customer. I also love to include them in the process along the way. I make sure that the final product is what they asked for.
HOW TO START YOUR OWN T-SHIRT BUSINESS – KNOW, GROW & GET THE FLOW! Another such thing that my business offers is training on what I do. I offer to begin and advanced training courses called “How To Start Your Own T-shirt Business – Know, Grow and Get The Flow” and train up CAPS – Creative Accountability Partners on everything I do. The training also includes ongoing training webinars and provides several different techniques, craft ideas, projects, and access to various resources.
BLINGING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL BLING PARTIES: In addition to this, I also host “Blinging It To The Next Level” Bling Parties where I am asked to attend various events such as birthday parties, church functions, bridal showers, etc and have the participants create their own bling t-shirts. I love getting involved in the community so this is my way of helping others.
GIRL GET OUT SHOP & MINGLE EXPO EVENTS: I also host quarterly “Girl Get Out Shop & Mingle Events” for vendors to come out and showcase their products. As a give-back to all my vendors for participating in these events, I offer FREE Business Webinar training each month so that I can help them build their businesses. Each month discusses a different topic. This is also my way of helping others.
BUSINESS LIFE COACH: I am also a Life Coach of Lay Aside Every Wait Coaching & Development where my specialty is in business coaching. I like to assist small business owners with getting started in their business by providing the necessary tools and strategies they need to get it up and operational. Another way to help others.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’ll have to admit that in my earlier years I was very quiet and self-reserved. I was the youngest of four siblings. I didn’t talk to very many people. I guess you can say I was very shy and an introvert. I started in the workforce during my 10th-grade year in school and worked every since until I officially left corporate America.
Since starting my own business I have now expanded into becoming an extrovert and I love meeting new people; whereas before I was too shy to even talk to anyone. Having my own business has definitely been a paradigm shift in my life – it changed me from the inside out. I always tell people now “Whatever your passion is, that is what will last! – It will be what wakes you up in the morning.”
Contact Info:
- Website: Business website: https://selenasblingboutique.vpweb.com | Etsy website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SelenasBlingBoutique | Business warehouse: https://www.companycasuals.com/selenastheblingboutique/start.jsp
- Facebook: facebook.com/sedwardsglitterbox
